Woolmer hopes to tire bowlers

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Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer says the only way to stop the
all-powerful Australian cricket team in the coming three-Test
series is by exhausting its bowling attack.

The Australian pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and
Michael Kasprowicz and spin wizard Shane Warne have combined
superbly in the past two months to roll India 2-1 and whitewash New
Zealand 2-0 in their respective Test series.

Such has been the magnitude of their feats that exasperated NZ
skipper Stephen Fleming rated Australia as having an attack of
"three Richard Hadlees and the greatest leg spinner of all"
following this week's loss in Adelaide.

Former South African coach Woolmer believes the only way to
crack the home team is to tire out the Australian bowlers, who have
ploughed through six Tests in two months.

"The only way I can see of beating them is getting their four
bowlers really tired as then they can't bowl so well," Woolmer said
yesterday. "But you need to be playing with some attacking flair to
knock them off their line.

"The Australians have shown that (with the bat) and done it to
everyone else so we would like to reverse that and do it to
them."

Woolmer will know of NZ's botched attempts to occupy the crease
during their recent two-match series.

"It is more about just getting in before we start trying to
dominate, but we know it is not going to be easy, we know that we
are up against a team playing at the peak of their powers, but I
see no reason why we can't play at that level," Woolmer said.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist have
recently shied away from using part-time bowlers, but have not
enforced follow-ons to ensure there isn't additional strain on
their frontline attack.

The seam bowlers are also being rotated in the upcoming
three-match one-day series against the Black Caps in a bid to
freshen them up.

The Pakistanis continued their preparations for the opening Test
in the match against a West Australian second XI at Perth's James
Oval yesterday.

WA second XI opening bowler Matthew Petrie, who picked up 4-29
in Pakistan's first innings, thought it could be hard for the
Pakistani batsmen not to play with their natural aggression.

"I think it is just their natural game. It is good bowling to
them because you know you're a chance or you are going to go for
plenty," he said.

The former Queenslander claimed the scalps of opener Yasir
Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal and said the
Pakistani batsmen needed time to adjust to Australia's bouncier
pitches.

"I think they are a pretty good chance of being caught at gully
because they are probably used to the pitches bouncing a little
lower," he said. "But they will just need to adjust to that and I
am sure they will show more respect to the Australian bowlers than
us as we are a second XI team.

"They are an aggressive side and it will make for some terrific
cricket against Australia with (paceman) Shoaib (Akhtar) coming off
the boundary ropes here and (Mohammad) Sami bowling maybe even
quicker."

In the match against the WA second XI, Pakistan's top order
crumbled to be 6-44 at stumps while chasing a target of 94.

Earlier, Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria ripped through the
WA line-up in the second innings, taking 7-45 and helping to
dismiss the hosts for 192.

Pakistan was dismissed in its first innings for 257 in reply to
the home side's first-innings score of 158.

Kaneria says he has a secret delivery, but is keeping it for the
Tests. He said the extra pace and bounce in the WACA Ground pitch
would help his bowling as he shaped up for a battle with Shane
Warne. "I am looking forward to the series because I will be
competing against the world's best spinner," he said.